on the joys of motherhood, adoption, life in Korea & Japan & small town USA, simplification, homeschooling, sewing, quilting, and much more........
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nauvoo

May 05, 2011

i finally took senior pics of my gorgeous girl yesterday. we've only been trying to get this done since last fall. but she is more of a springtime girl, so i think this did work out for the best. so fun to have such a lovely subject and live in such beautiful surroundings for photo backdrops.

this is the cabin at the jospeh smith homestead, built for his parents to live in.

May 08, 2010

my friend joanna was in charge of the nauvoo women's retreat this year (in march). it was absolutley wonderful! i was recruited (happily) to organize the service projects - so fun! joanna had the great and simple ideas, i just carried them out. we made white hair bows for little girls who come to the nauvoo temple, and hoped to also make some quilts to replace the original ones made for little children to cuddle in the youth waiting center, which are getting worn. i kept hoping to find time to piece some quilt tops, and at the very last minute, and i do mean the VERY last minute (the day before and day of the service project) i was able to pull these two quilts together. i had pieced the red top last summer, set it aside and forgot about it, and fortunately found it. the blue quilt worked up quickly - it is a reproduction of an antique quilt made in the late 1800s from indigos, cadet blues, and shirtings. the ladies at the retreat tied them with pearl embroidery floss. i would have loved to have them hand quilted, but the time restraints made that unrealistic. i was surprised by how much the the women enjoyed working on the bows and the quilts.

April 25, 2010

i am so in love with our yard and neighborhood in the spring.....and really all year long, other than january and february. this spring we have planted a dogwood, almond, and white peach trees, more rhubarb, wisteria, summer daffodils, clematis, more asiatic lilies, more peonies, toad lilies, blue pearl polemonium, red coral bells, lily of the valley, more hydrangeas, caladium, and gladiolus.....maybe more? next week a fig tree, kiwi vines, and 2 replacement grapes are coming, which will bring our total number of fruit trees to 16, plus 5 nut trees, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and 4 types of grapes....so excited for them to keep growing and producing!

we've made big changes in our garden this year, which we are excited about - putting in fencing and raising our beds, finally buying a composter. and i got all of our early planting finished yesterday - lettuce, spinach, snow peas, regular peas, kale, candy onions, green onions, pak choi, potatoes, carrots, and beets.....jus tin time for torrential rainfall. i'm afraid to go out and investigate - afraid all of the little seeds were washed away.

January 20, 2010

i am reproducing the suit (breeches, waistcoat, frock coat, shirt, and cravat) from this 1772 painting of george washington for our painter friend, michael bedard, who plans to use it in several paintings. i am up to my eyeballs in scarlet and navy wool, white and otameal linen, gold braid and pewter buttons, and loving every minute of it! i was quite apprehensive to start, and still wonder what i was thinking to accept the commission, but i am learning and learning, and the feel of handkerchief linen or wool in my hands as you sew with linen thread is quite a delight.

December 09, 2009

the two oldest are going to be in their high school's production of "Bah, Humbug" this saturday, a fund raiser for their spring musical of "Thoroughly Modern Millie'. tashi will be wearing the 1840s dress i made for her in august.

i have been wanting to make one for lexi too, and this is the perfect opportunity for it to be used. it will be her hand made christmas gift from me. a crazy time of year to be working on it, but i am enjoying it!

i love working with the intricately printed fabric, and discovering the ingenious and beautiful way that dresses were made in this era. with this dress i learned an amazing way of installing hooks and eyes:

it was difficult to photograph it so they could be seen... the hooks were sewn to the lining, and then pushed through the "fashion" fabric. the bases of the eyes are hidden between fabric and lining. so the sewing and the bases of the hooks and eyes are hidden away.

now for my mistake....not really "the" mistake, just one of many, but the most serious.

something about the bodice was bothering me, and for a while i didn't know what it was. can you see it? look at the sleeves. they are cut on the bias, and this fabric, that i love, has a diagonal, or bias print. i cut one sleeve with the stripes running in one direction, and the other sleeve running in the other. i just finished removing and replacing the offending sleeve (barely had enough fabric left on the bolt - phew!), and now both sleeves run lengthwise like the one on the right. with the bodice complete, i am cartridge pleating the skirt so it can be attached. i love the cartridge pleating. it can be seen on the skirt of tashi's dress. it is a lot like hanging curtains.

during my studies of 1800s clothing over the last year, i have realized that although i have always idealized civil war era dresses as the loveliest, they really are surpassed by the grace and elegance of the 1840s fashions, which are also more flattering to the figure (especially a teenage figure).

November 09, 2009

halloween was wonderful. the only improvement i could have asked for would be the 70 and 80 degree temperatures that we've been blessed with this week rather than the 50 degree temperatures of that week. but it didn't rain, and we were grateful. trick-or-treating happens on beggar's eve here, the night before halloween. it is truly magical to walk the streets filled with other trick-or-treaters, and overhung with glowing orange and red maple leaves and brilliant yellow gingkos, and to feel safe stopping at any house we see.

the pumpkin walk fell on halloween this year, thanks to halloween being considerate enough to fall on saturday. i got some beautiful photos that were lost when i saved them to the computer. still having computer/photo issues. also some amazing photos of the kids buried in the leaves in our yard that afternoon as the sun was low and golden. ~i would greatly appreciate it if you would please try to imagine it in your mind :) ~ to our surprise, the candy corn princess costume got more comments and cheers in the parade, and again later as we walked the streets, than any other. it was chosen because is was such a match with the little princess' persona.

September 09, 2009

armed with much inspiration and courage from my friend mary (one of several dear mary friends) and her 1840s sewing expertise, i have completed my first really big 1840s sewing endeavor: a gown for tashi. i cut it out and started on it in may or june, but set it aside as the summer became busier. and i questioned my fabric choice that i had originally belabored - although i loved it, it didn't really seem to match tashi and here serene personality. then a few weeks ago our artist friend michael bedard asked tashi to pose as sarah granger kimball for a painting, or series of paintings he is planning based on the beginnings of the relief society in nauvoo. sarah was well educated and cultured and married one of the wealthiest men in nauvoo - and i had the inspiration for finishing the gown that fit her (sarah's) personality. it's as authentic as i could make it without time to sew entirely by hand. it came together smoothly and was a joy to work on. serpentine stripes were the height of fashion in the 1840s. the fabrics were sophisticated and colorful, and intricately detailed then, not plain and drab as we are prone to imagine.this was my first experience with cartridge pleating a skirt and stitching each little pleat to the waistband, stiffened with horsehair braid, by hand. the bodice is fully lined and full of boning.

these photos were taken during the practice photo shoot, there have been two more since. her ringlets weren't holding (we were copying the hairstyle from a portrait of sarah granger kimball.) we got better at managing the ringlets in subsequent shoots.

the photos were taken at the sarah granger kimball home. this first painting is planned to be sarah enjoying the flowers in her beautiful gardens.